Unrequited Love for a Crane
by platinumblind
Summary: Set 10 years after the show ended. Roz's daughter Alice is now 16 years old and like all teenagers, loves to be a rebel and a rulebreaker. But who will she turn to for help when she ends up falling in love with someone she shouldn't? AliceFrederick, AU.
1. Alice, in Wonderland

_So, here's the deal. Basically, in this fic 10 years have passed since Frasier left Seattle. Since then, many things have happened._

_Ronee and Martin are still married and still live in Seattle._

_Niles and Daphne also still reside in Seattle, and have had another child, a daughter which they named Nicole._

_Roz, after a few years and a few short, crazy relationships, has finally managed to settle down and get married._

_But now the most important thing you probably want to know. What on Earth happened to Frasier? Well, after going to Chicago, he found Charlotte, and the two of them continued their relationship. 2 years later, he proposed to her. Another 6 months, and they were married._

_And the second most important thing; the children! Well, they were children. Wanna know what happened to little Alice and David, and Frederick?_

_Well, first things first. Frederick, now 26, is more like his dad than you probably thought he'd be... meaning, he's still single. Poor guy. He also followed his father's footsteps by moving away from Boston, and he now lives in Seattle._

_Secondly, little Alice is not so little anymore. She's 16 years old, and is your typical rebellious teenage girl, always disobeying her mom and stepdad, and trying her hardest NOT to follow the rules._

_And finally, Niles and Daphne's son, David. He's now 10 years old, and turning out to be a lovely little boy.. planning to be more like his mom than his dad though, by the looks of things._

_Right! Now we know where everybody is and what they've been up to._

_Let's begin the first chapter._

* * *

"Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me? Don't cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me? Don't cha?"

It was 8.30pm on a Saturday evening, and in her bedroom standing in front of the mirror was 16-year-old Alice Doyle. She was stood there, hand on her hip, a cheeky grin on her face, bopping her head slowly to the music blasting out of her radio. As she stood there, you could see she had an air of confidence about her, the kind that matched her mother's at that age. She was beautiful and you could tell she knew it. She looked lovely in a white t-shirt, blue jeans and white boots, with her long brown hair falling down into her face.

Leaning closer to the mirror, she proceeded to put on her earrings - a pair of gold hoop ones, a gift from her dad, Rick. She hardly ever saw her father, but he always sent her gifts, letters, cards. Her mother Roz never had a problem with this; but it made Alice rather ecstatic to know that it annoyed her step-father Matthew, whom she hated. He never admitted this, of course, but Alice could just tell.

"ALICE! TURN THAT MUSIC DOWN!" yelled Roz from downstairs. Alice spun round quickly, giving her bedroom door a quick glance, feeling slightly startled by her mother's yelling. She rolled her eyes, then walked to the other side of the room and switched her CD player off completely.

Only stopping to quickly grab her mobile phone and handbag from on top of her desk, she opened her bedroom door, rushed out of the room and hurried down the stairs. But before she could make her escape out the front door, she bumped into Roz and Matthew, who were stood at the bottom of the stairs, with angry looks on their faces.

"Alice, I think we need to have a bit of a chat," Matthew said.

Alice raised her eyebrow and laughed a fake laugh. "Chat? Umm, no. I'm late, anyways, I'm off out -"

Roz stopped her daughter mid-sentence, a look of concern on her face. "Out? Where are you going? What are you late for?"

Alice's right eyebrow managed to re-arch itself as she turned to her mother. "Mom, stop worrying. I'm going over to see Uncle Niles and Aunt Daphne. They're going out tonight and they asked me to babysit David and Nicole," she explained.

Roz had a look which meant she wasn't completely convinced by Alice's story, but not wanting to start an argument with her daughter, she just nodded and smiled, and said, "Okay, but call me when you get there, alright?"

"Alright Mom," responded Alice in an annoyed tone of voice, "I'll probably be back by midnight at the latest anyway, you know what Uncle Niles is like."

And with that, she pushed past her parents, opened the front door and walked out.


	2. Because The Crane Boys Do It Best

**Chapter 2**

**Because the Crane boys do it best**

It took Alice a 20 minute bus trip to get to Niles and Daphne's place. And when she finally made her way into the Montana, all the way up the stairs and to the front door of their apartment, she was greeted by a very unhappy-looking David.

"Hey, dude!" she said cheerfully to him as she walked in, "Where's your Mom and Dad?"

David shut the front door, then leaned back against it as he turned to face Alice. "They're in their bedroom, just 'grabbing their coats'", he said, using his hands to make air quotes for the last part of his sentence. "They've spent all day smooching on each other, it's bloody ridiculous!"

Alice chuckled to herself quietly. "Boy, you really are your mother's child aren't you?" she mumbled. Hearing the distant giggles of Niles and Daphne, she spun round to greet them, not getting the chance to see David give her a weird look and mouth, "Huh?"

"Oh, hello Alice!" said Daphne, as she pulled Alice into a quick hug. "Thank you ever so much for coming out here. I'm sure we'll be back by about 11 at the latest, so you needn't worry about getting home too late."

I knew it, Alice thought to herself, as she smiled and nodded knowingly at Daphne.

"Come on Daphne, we'll be late, you know how the people at Le Soeurs Insensé always insist we get there 25 minutes early," complained Niles impatiently, as he rushed out the front door.

"Alright, alright," called Daphne. She leaned down to kiss David on the cheek, then looked up to the stairs and shouted "Goodnight Nicole!" before following Niles out of the apartment.

Alice sat herself down on the couch, putting her feet up on the coffee table in front of her. Turning to David, she smirked and then asked, "So, where's your sister?"

David rolled his eyes. "Hang on, I'll get her then," he said, an exasperated tone to his voice. Suddenly Alice jumped in fright as David rushed over to the bottom of the stairs, and screamed, "NICOLE! GET DOWN HERE, GEEK!"

Alice giggled slightly. Sure, he was Niles's son but he sure didn't act like it - in fact, she thought, he reminded her of one of the Moon boys rather than a Crane boy.

A few short moments later and little 8-year-old Nicole Crane emerged from her bedroom, clutching a book in her hands. "I resent being called a geek, David," she said in an annoyed tone of voice, "And I also think you should know, dear brother, that the official definition for the word geek is, and I quote, a person regarded as foolish, inept or clumsy. Am I any of those things? No. Now run along before I force you to read me a 800 page bedtime story about Sigmund Freud."

Alice couldn't help but laugh as she watched them. And as Nicole sat down on the couch beside her, she remarked, "You are so much like your father, Nicole, do you realise that?"

Nicole gave Alice an almost sympathetic-looking smile. "Alice. My father is a Jungian. I, however, would like to consider myself a Freudian, like my dearest Uncle Frasier," she explained. Her eyes glazed over for a moment. "Uncle Frasier, how I miss him. Although I do see cousin Freddie occasionally, I am sad to say that he does not possess the certain wonderful qualities that his father has."

Alice stared at Nicole, mouth wide open in shock. "Woah... it's like you're a 40-year-old trapped in an 8-year-old's body!" she said.

Nicole gave Alice another quick smile, although this time it was a rather spiteful-looking one. "If that's a compliment, I suppose I accept it. Anyway, moving on.. how is your mom?"

Alice nodded. "She's good, thanks. Always talking about your Uncle Frasier though.. I think she kinda regretted not being able to see him when he visited at Christmas."

"I'll send him her love when I speak to him again. Although I'm sure they'll get their reunion, as I've been told that he may be coming to Seattle to visit Freddie. If he does come down here, I'll tell him to go visit your mom."

"Thanks."

The two girls just sat there for a few awkward moments afterwards, not knowing quite what to talk about.

"So, what's the book about?" Alice asked finally, pointing to the book Nicole still clutched tightly in her hands.

Nicole gently stroked the front of the book, and then smiled. "It's my journal, actually. I found some of Daddy's old journals a few weeks ago, and it inspired me to get one of my own."

"Well, that's great." Alice looked up at the kitchen door, and a thought suddenly occured to her. "I'm gonna go into the kitchen and get a drink, would you like one?"

Nicole shook her head. "No, thank you," she replied politely.

Alice grinned. "Alright," she said, and she got up from the couch and made her way into the kitchen.

It took Alice a few good minutes looking around opening each of the cupboards before she could find a glass and a bottle of Coca Cola. In fact, she was so preoccupied with her search that she barely noticed the sound of the doorbell.

"I'll get it!" called Nicole from the other room.

Finally, as she put the bottle back in the cupboard, it finally hit her what Nicole had said. Picking up her glass, she turned and walked back into the living room, only to find the front door open and someone standing in the doorway, talking to Nicole.

"Who is it?" Alice asked.

Nicole turned to Alice and smiled, again - but this time Alice was sure it was a genuine smile. "Alice, I'd like you to meet somebody. This is my cousin, Frederick Crane. Freddie, this is Alice Doyle."

Alice put her glass down on the coffee table and walked over to greet Frederick. But as she finally took a good look at his face, she suddenly stopped in her tracks, and almost gasped.

Oh my god, she thought, He's...gorgeous!


	3. The Doyle Family Trait?

**Chapter 3**

**The Doyle family trait?**

No way, Alice kept repeating in her head, No way, no way, no way. How could this be Frederick? She remembered a time not too long ago when she'd had a long conversation with Roz, and they ended up talking about Frasier and his family. She remembered asking Roz if she ever had any romantic feelings for Frasier - to which Roz's reply was "No! We were like, brother and sister. Besides, even if we weren't friends I would have NEVER gone out with him, he wasn't even remotely good looking."

And now Alice's mind was going into overdrive. If her mother hadn't even considered going out with Frasier, then how could she, Alice May Doyle, develop a crush on Frasier's son in less than 30 seconds! It's not right, she told herself angrily, Don't be such an idiot, Alice, he's Frasier's SON. He's supposed to be ugly and weird. Don't start liking him.

"Alice? Are you alright?"

Alice finally came back down to earth and saw Nicole looking at her weirdly, and Frederick also looking at her with a half-smile, half-confused look on his face.

"Umm, yeah. I'm...fine," she managed to choke out a few moments later.

Nicole made her way back over to the couch and sat down, and Alice and Frederick sat either side of her - Alice just looked down at the floor, knowing she couldn't bear to look directly at Frederick.

"So... Alice Doyle. Roz's daughter, right?" Frederick said, finally.

Alice thought for a moment, before looking up and giving Frederick a quick smile. "Yeah, that's the one," she told him, and then she laughed, "It's been a good few years, hasn't it?"

Frederick looked puzzled. "Since what?" he asked.

"Since we last saw each other, since our families got together."

"Oh yeah. That's true. How have you been anyway?"

"Okay, I guess. How about you?"

"Oh, I'm alright. Been pretty busy lately though. Things at work are driving me totally insane." Frederick was a TV presenter on a sports show called 'Sport 365'. It was rather popular in Seattle, although it annoyed Frederick when all the critics usually tried to compare him to his dad, and compare his show to his dad's radio show, even though they were two completely different things.

"That sucks. I guess I need to get a job soon though. My mom's always telling me I should get one." Alice laughed.

"I could always see if I could get you a job down at the station, maybe as an intern or something. It's not much I know, but at least it'll be enough to get your mom off your back." Frederick said, and he smiled. Alice looked at him and then smiled back, and soon the two of them were sat there gazing into each other's eyes...

"Hey, where'd Nicole go?" Frederick suddenly said, as he looked around the room.

Just as soon as Frederick had noticed she was gone, Nicole came running out from the guest room, holding what looked like her fathers' mobile phone.

"Freddie! Daddy forgot his phone, and Uncle Frasier just called," she said excitedly, jumping up and down, "Quick! Call him back, it might be important!"

She handed the phone to Frederick, and he took it. He stood up, patted Nicole's head gently, then turned to Alice and grinned. "Nicole adores her Uncle Frasier, don't you sweetie?" he said.

Nicole nodded, and a huge smile formed on her face. But Alice wasn't really paying much attention to what was going on, and Frederick could tell.

"You not a fan of my dear old dad?" he asked.

Alice finally zoned back in again, and just shrugged at Frederick's question. "I don't really know him that well," she replied.

"Well, you must be the only woman in the Doyle family who doesn't like him," said Frederick with a wink.

Alice was suddenly confused. "What do you mean?" Although she had a feeling she already knew what he'd meant.

"Your mom. Apparently she had a bit of a thing for my Dad. I once heard her telling that to Aunt Daphne.. it must have been, what, a week or so before she married your stepfather."

Alice's mouth dropped open. No, she thought, It couldn't be!

"Umm, Freddie, are you gonna be here a while?" she asked, suddenly getting up and reaching for her purse.

"Yeah, sure.. why?"

"I need to go home. I'll be back, I just..." Before she could even finish her sentence, she was gone out the front door, leaving a confused Nicole and Frederick standing there wondering what had just happened.

"MOM!" Alice almost screamed as she rushed into the house, slamming the front door shut behind her.

A few moments later, an annoyed and puzzled-looking Roz made her way down the stairs. "Alice! What on Earth is wrong with you!"

"Mom, I really need to speak to you."

"Sure, about what?" Roz turned around and walked into the kitchen, and Alice followed, sitting herself down on a chair at the kitchen table.

"First of all, is -" Alice rolled her eyes, "- Is Matt here?"

Roz was even more curious as to where this conversation was headed. She sat down on the chair next to her daughter. "No, he went to the grocery store to do some shopping, why?"

"Good, because I have an important question to ask you."

"Okay, but first of all, how about a drink?" Roz was up out of her seat and stood in front of the refridgerator before Alice could answer.

"Uh, sure, I'll have a Diet Coke."

"Good choice," joked Roz, as she grabbed two cans of Diet Coke, then shut the refridgerator door and sat back down with Alice.

Alice took one of the cans and opened it, and took a sip. "Okay, now don't get mad at me for asking this, but..."

Roz, who now had a mouthful of Diet Coke, just nodded and signalled for Alice to continue.

"Is it true you were in love with Frasier?"

Suddenly Roz's mouthful of Diet Coke ended up being spat all across the kitchen table, and on Alice's (favourite) t-shirt. "WHAT? Who told you that!" exclaimed Roz, as she reached over to the kitchen counter to grab a tea towel to clean up the table.

"Frederick, he says he heard you telling Daphne that," explained Alice, looking very annoyed as she tried to wipe off the Coke-stained parts of her t-shirt, "He says it was a week before you got married."

Roz suddenly stopped wiping up the kitchen table, and slowly turned to face her daughter. "Frederick's wrong, he's an idiot. Don't listen to him, alright?" she said angrily, and she quickly turned back to throw the tea towel across the room - where it landed in the kitchen sink. Roz just sighed, and then faced Alice once again.

"Mom...Freddie wouldn't lie," Alice said softly, reaching for Roz's hand.

Roz pulled away quickly. "How do you know that? You barely know Frederick. Sure, he seems like he's an honest guy but come on, Alice, how would you even consider believing that I..." Her voice trailed off, as she saw that her story wasn't convincing Alice at all. "Alright. I _thought_ I had feelings for Frasier. You happy now?"

"But after working with him for so long, it took the week before you got married to realise you liked him?" Alice asked, feeling more confused by the second.

"I didn't really like him! It was just, y'know, wedding jitters..." Roz was looking down at the floor now.

Alice shook her head, and just for a second, a little smile formed on her face. But suddenly it disappeared as she spoke again, "Mom. Did you have feelings for him, or not?"

Roz let out another loud sigh. Finally she managed to look up; now she was staring right into Alice's eyes. "I spoke to him on the phone that day. We had a long conversation. He was so sweet to me. I realised how much I missed him, I mean, of course he'd been gone for ages but still I'd never really gotten over it.. and after our phone conversation, it finally hit me. He wasn't here. He wasn't going to see me finally getting married. My closest friend wasn't going to be able to share my happiness. Of course, I didn't think it was this at the time. I thought that it was because I'd finally realised I loved him. So, I went to confide in Daphne. I told her I thought I loved Frasier, but she convinced me that I was just making up feelings because I was so nervous about getting married. Frederick obviously never heard the whole conversation... because if he had he would've known not to start spreading that idiotic rumour about me." Roz finally stopped talking, as a question finally came to her. "Why were you so worried about it anyway? It's not like you ever really cared much for Frasier."

Alice shook her head. "It's not that. I just...I just wandered if, well, if this whole falling for Crane men was a family trait or..." She broke eye contact with Roz, and looked down at the table, "...Or if it was just me."

"You're in love with Frasier!" Roz exclaimed, sounding a little disgusted.

Alice laughed. "No, it's not Frasier."

"Niles!"

"No. It's not Niles either. And before you say it - no, it's NOT Martin!"

Roz giggled quietly, but then suddenly she realised what her daughter was trying to say. "Wait...you mean...?"

"I think I'm in love with Frederick," Alice said, almost in a whisper.

"Oh, honey," said Roz, as she reached out to hold Alice's hand, "How can you love him? You hardly know him."

"But when I saw him just now, I just felt... I felt something I've never felt before."

"First of all, Freddie is 10 years older than you, so don't even think about it. And secondly, I think you'll find that it was more 'Woah, hey honey you're hot, wanna fuck' kind of love. Which isn't love really, it's lust. You're 16, so it's practically normal to feel that way when you see a good-looking guy. Just trust me, you'll get over it." Then Roz got up and started walking out of the kitchen.

"But Mom?" Alice called out.

Roz poked her head round the kitchen door. "Yes?"

"What if I don't get over it?"

"Trust me, you will. Doyle girls don't fall for Crane boys. That's not the way of the world, sweetie." Roz winked at Alice, then laughed, and walked away.


	4. The Reunion

**Chapter 4**

**The Reunion**

Alice had decided to follow her mother's wise words, and so for two weeks afterwards she decided that whenever she was near Frederick and felt a weird feeling in her stomach or an aching feeling in her heart, she would just put that down to the fact that she simply wanted to sleep with him. She found that as she spent more time with Frederick and got to know him better, her feelings started to get worse.. but still, she just tried her hardest to ignore it.

Of course, after two weeks Alice's brain finally got into gear and the poor girl realised that maybe, just maybe, her mom was wrong. But since she figured she couldn't do a thing about it, she just tried to avoid Frederick. In fact, she tried to avoid the entire Crane family.

Although, quite obviously... the Cranes could hardly ever be avoided.

"Hey Alice, guess what?" Roz said cheerfully one Wednesday morning at 9 o'clock as she walked into Alice's room, where Alice was still lying in bed, barely awake.

"What?" Alice asked sleepily, putting her hands over her eyes as Roz pulled back the curtains and sunlight came seeping into the room.

"Frasier's flying in from Chicago today to visit his family. But he's promised to stop by here too. I finally get to see him again! Finally, after 6 months of waiting! I have so much to tell him."

This last line alarmed Alice, and she sat up in bed and stared at Roz angrily - well, trying to look as angry as she could with her eyes squinted, not yet used to the bright light in the room. "Mom, what does that mean? You're not gonna tell him -"

"What, about the fact that you're lusting after his son? No, honey, I'll leave that part out," laughed Roz, as she walked out of the room again.

Alice suddenly felt relieved. So she laid back down in her bed, pulled the covers over her head, and tried to fall back to sleep.

At Niles and Daphne's place, Daphne was rushing around tidying the place up, while Niles, Frederick, David and Nicole all sat on the couch in the living room, anxiously waiting.

"I can't wait til Uncle Frasier gets here!" Nicole exclaimed, a huge smile on her face, "I have so much to discuss with him."

"That's right, be a good girl for Daddy and challenge your poor old Uncle Frasier's mind," Niles said, and he laughed.

"Are you lot just gonna sit there?!" yelled Daphne as she came out from the kitchen, dragging the vacuum cleaner along behind her.

"You told us to, Mom!" complained David, as he put his feet up on the coffee table.

Daphne gasped, and pushed David's feet off the table. "What's wrong with you?! Don't put your feet up on the table!" she said angrily.

"But Alice did it when she was here babysitting last time!"

Daphne simply rolled her eyes and carried on dragging the vacuum cleaner off into the guest room.

"Speaking of Alice, have you guys noticed how weird she's been acting lately?" Frederick asked.

Niles looked confused. "She's been fine with me and Daph, why, how's she been with you?"

"I can't quite explain it... a few weeks ago it would be, like, she would sit and stare at me when we were together, she would laugh at all my jokes, she was just so friendly towards me. But the past few days she's just been acting like she wants to get away from me. She leaves the room when I walk in, she hardly ever talks to me anymore."

Niles laughed, and placed a reassuring hand on Frederick's shoulder. "I'm sure everything is fine, Freddie, don't start worrying." As Niles' sentence finished, the doorbell rang. He got up, and walked over to the front door. "Remember, you don't want to start overanalysing everything, or you'll end up like your dad." He opened the front door, and sure enough, it was Frasier.

"Hello Niles," said Frasier with a smile. As he stepped into the apartment, he pulled his younger brother into a warm, friendly hug - only for it to be cut short as Nicole screamed "UNCLE FRASIER!!!!", jumped up from the couch and ran to her uncle, wrapping her arms around his legs tightly.

"Nicole, how's my favourite little niece doing?" Frasier asked cheerfully, as he picked Nicole up and held her tightly in his arms.

"I'm okay," she replied politely, "How are you? How is Auntie Charlotte?"

"She's just fine," he told her, and then he looked over at Niles, "She's been so busy with work lately, so she couldn't come out here with me. But she sends her love to you all."

Niles nodded, and smiled knowingly at his older brother.

"Hello Dad," Frederick said to Frasier, now up from the couch and slowly walking towards his father.

Frasier put Nicole back down, and then wrapped his arms around Frederick and hugged him tightly. When they finally let go of each other, they both laughed.

"How are you, son?" Frasier asked Frederick.

Frederick nodded. "I'm good, thanks. You?"

"I'm just great."

"Well, come on, sit yourself down, tell us what's been happening with you!" Niles said, as everybody made their way back over to the couch. They all sat down, and listened intently as Frasier proceeded to tell them everything he had been up to.

After spending the entire day at Niles and Daphne's, Frasier left at about 5.30 and made his way over to Roz's place.

"Ahhh! He's here!" Roz screamed as she heard the doorbell ring. Alice, who was sat on the stairs waiting with her mom, just rolled her eyes and then laughed. She was just happy that Roz was happy. Alice realised that it had been a while since her mom had been genuinely happy about something.

"I'll go upstairs, okay?" Alice said, as she got up from the step she was sat on and proceeded to walk upstairs, "I'm gonna get ready to go out anyway."

"Okay honey," Roz replied, sounding rather uninterested.

"Oh, and Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"What time did Matt say he was coming back?"

"He didn't, he's gone to visit his Mom, he won't be back til Friday night."

"Really? Cool!" Alice, suddenly feeling extremely cheerful, skipped her way up the rest of the stairs. But instead of going to her room, she just sat there near the top of the stairs, deciding she wanted to be nosey. After all, she had nothing else to do, no boyfriends to visit, no parties to go to. What harm would there be in listening to her mom chat some boring stuff to an old friend?

Downstairs, Roz adjusted her red jumper and short black skirt, and gently tousled her hair before finally opening the front door. She knew who was going to be standing there. She was glad to finally be reunited with her closest and best friend. She was feeling so many different emotions, that when the front door finally swung open and she saw Frasier standing there, she burst into tears, and then jumped into his arms.

"Frasier," she whispered, "I missed you."

"Aw, Roz," he said softly, "I missed you too."

Realising finally how she had reacted, she let go of Frasier and laughed, feeling rather stupid. "Sorry about that," she told him, quickly wiping a tear which was running down her cheek, "I just... I can't believe you're here!"

Frasier smiled at her and nodded. "That's quite alright. So, can I come in?"

"Oh, sorry, of course," Roz said, and she pointed to the living room. Frasier walked past her and into the living room, and Roz shut and locked the front door before following him quickly.

Back upstairs, Alice was now in Roz and Matthew's room, noseying around in Roz's closet. Roz and Alice were roughly the same clothes size, and Alice knew how to use this to her advantage. She smiled as she rummaged through the clothes, seeing skirts and tops that she knew she just HAD to borrow some time in the near future.

"Hmm, I like this dress," she said to herself as she found a short black dress at the back of the closet.

Suddenly, hearing the sound of footsteps, she spun around and stood silently, listening intently. She could hear Roz laughing, and also another different-sounding laugh, which she figured was Frasier.

"Oh fuck, if she catches me robbing her of her clothes, I'm dead!" Alice hissed, looking around the room for a place to hide. Finally, just as the bedroom door swung open, Alice got down on the floor and crawled under the bed.

"...And this is my bedroom," said Roz as she walked in.

Frasier looked around the room, thought for a moment, and then slowly nodded. "I get it, it's a look," he told her. He laughed, and Roz playfully hit him on the arm. "Shut up."

"I'm guessing the correct term would be yours and Matt's room," Frasier said casually, leaning back against the dark blue wall. Roz sat down on the bed, nodded, and then let out a long, loud sigh.

"Something wrong, Roz?" Frasier asked, concerned.

"Oh, nothing," Roz replied, although the tone in her voice made Frasier think otherwise. He walked over to the bed, and sat down next to her. "Roz, you know you can talk to me if you have a problem."

"It's just..." Roz closed her eyes and took a deep breath before continuing, "Me and Matt have been having so many arguments lately."

"Really? About what?"

"About everything. The house, our jobs.. oh, and then there's the fact that Alice always makes it clear to Matt that she hates him. I don't think Alice has heard any of our arguments, but to be honest, she's one of the things we argue about."

Frasier let out a small laugh. "I suppose the whole thing is hard on Alice, I mean, for most of her life it was just the two of you together, and nobody else. And then there's the fact that her father is halfway across the world and she almost never gets to see him. I can see why it would be hard for her to adapt to this new living situation."

"New? Me and Matt have been together nearly 5 years, Frasier."

"Still, did you ever take the time to ask her what she thought of Matt, and how she felt about the whole thing?"

"I suppose not. When I married Matt, me and Alice weren't that close. We're a lot closer now than we were back then and we do talk about stuff. But I suppose back then I never let her have her say. We've just all tried to ignore the fact that she's never taken to Matt." Roz suddenly yelled "Oh God!" and laid back on the bed, face in her hands. "Oh God, Frasier, I'm a bad mom aren't I?"

Frasier turned around and looked down at her. "Roz, you're a terrific mom. Don't ever say that."

Roz let out an unexpected laugh, and finally put moved her hands down from her face. "You know, Alice did actually teach me something."

A smile formed on Frasier's face. "She did? Well, I know that Frederick has certainly taught me a few things too. Most of the time we find that it's not us teaching the kids what we know, but the kids teaching us what they've learnt from others and from themselves."

"Frasier, Alice helped me to see that I'm an idiot." Roz finally sat up again. "She made me realise that I made a mistake marrying Matt, that I was stupid for staying with him this long. She also made me realise that I don't love him.. I love someone else. I didn't realise it until a week before my wedding, and when I told Daphne she just said that I thought I was in love with someone else because I was nervous about getting married. But she was wrong. I was wrong, I was such a fool."

Frasier looked shocked and confused all at the same time. The expression on his face made Roz think for a second that maybe she shouldn't have said what she said. "But Roz..." he began. "Why didn't you call me? I could've helped you, we could've talked this problem through."

Roz glanced down at the ground, knowing she would probably regret what she was about to say. "I did call you, Frasier. We did talk. That's when my problem started."

"What? But -" Frasier stopped mid-sentence. He didn't quite know how to respond.

"Frasier, I'm trying to say that I love you!" Roz suddenly shouted, but then clapping her hand over her mouth and standing up from the bed the exact moment she said the last word of her sentence.

"But Roz..." Frasier sighed, and then finally, slowly, he looked up at Roz, who was now in tears. "Roz, I'm married now. I'm with Charlotte."

Roz sat back down on the bed, taking Frasier's hand and looking him right in the eyes. "Frasier, please, don't say that," she pleaded, "Please. I need you."

Without another thought or word, Frasier jumped on Roz, and soon the two were kissing passionately, pulling the covers off the bed and tugging at each others' clothes, all the withheld passion between the two of them finally being able to release itself.

Underneath the bed, however, Alice still lay silently.

But although she made no sound, her entire body was shaking.

Tears were streaming endlessly down her face.

With both her hands clasped tightly over her mouth, she stayed there, trying to ignore all the sounds and movement. Trying to stop herself from sobbing uncontrollably.

Suddenly she wished she wasn't sixteen anymore. She wished she didn't know what was going on above her, wished she didn't understand every word she'd just heard.

Because she knew that, without realising it until it was too late.. she'd just played a part in turning everybody's lives upside down.


	5. The Aftermath

**Author Note: **Wow, it feels like a lifetime since I did any work on this story! I apologise for that, guys. But to be honest, I kinda lost interest in Frasier for a while, which meant I also lost interest in the story.

However! Lately I've been slowly getting back into the show again, so I've been thinking of pulling this story out of its slight hiatus.

Anyway, here's the next chapter. Let me know what you guys think.. should I carry on writing it?

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**The Aftermath**

Alice awoke suddenly and saw that it was still dark. For a moment, she didn't know where she was. But then suddenly it all came flooding back to her, and she found herself trying to fight back her tears once again.

She crawled out from under the bed, and stood up. She could barely see anything, it was too dark. But she could see one thing; Matt's alarm clock which was placed on a table next to the bed. It said 1.30am, and suddenly the entire situation made sense to her. She realised that she must have fallen asleep under the bed.

Her eyes began to get used to the darkness and she could see a little more. She caught a glimpse of two dark figures lying in the bed, and quickly she turned away. She knew who it was.

She couldn't bear to stay in the house any longer, and she knew who she had to go to. Someone who would be able to understand how she felt, someone who would be able to share in her unhappiness once she told them what was going on.

She had to go to Frederick.

After spending almost half an hour walking along the cold, dark streets of Seattle, she finally managed to find the apartment building that she knew Frederick lived in. The Mayflower building, apartment 1603, she remembered he'd told her.

She stepped into the elevator, and stood there silently as the door closed and it proceeded to go up to the 16th floor. There were many different thoughts rushing through Alice's mind as she stood there. She could remember what Frasier and Roz had been saying.

_"I don't think Alice has heard any of our arguments, but to be honest, she's one of the things we argue about."_

_"When I married Matt, me and Alice weren't that close."_

Remembering this was enough to bring Alice to tears yet again. She wished she could forget everything, or just rewind back to that moment, climb out from under the bed and make her presence known before her mom went too far. Or maybe she should've just not been so nosey and gone in the room at all?

As much as it cut her like a knife hearing Roz say all those things about her, it made Alice feel even worse that she had to hear Roz and Frasier doing... well, Alice tried to block that out of her mind entirely. But trying to not think about it just made it even harder for her to forget. She felt like she was still stuck in that moment, she could still clearly hear the sounds of Roz, crying out "I love you" to Frasier.. and the way Frasier had shouted out just moments after, "Oh God, Roz, I love you too"... and then there was the screams, the moans, the sound of the bed banging against the wall. Being reminded of the whole thing again almost made Alice want to throw up, or pass out. It was almost silent in the elevator, but all the thoughts rushing around in Alice's head sounded so loud to her they were almost deafening.

The elevator stopped at the 16th floor, and the doors opened up. Alice slowly staggered out of the elevator, her head was spinning, her knees were weak and she felt as though she might collapse.

She managed to find her way round the corner, where she saw a door with the numbers "1603" on it in big brass letters. Finally, she'd gotten to Frederick's apartment.

She knocked on the door, and waited for a moment.

No answer.

She knocked again, starting to get upset. Where was Frederick? Why wasn't he answering?

Still, no answer.

Now she was sobbing. She started to bang her fist against the door. "FREDERICK! FREDDIE!" she yelled, "WHERE ARE YOU?!"

She heard the sound of a lock being unlocked, and suddenly the apartment door opened. Frederick was standing there, half-asleep, looking extremely confused and angry. But when he saw it was Alice, suddenly he was no longer angry, and instead worried.

"Alice?" he whispered, walking over to her and putting an arm round her waist, "Alice, what happened?"

Before Alice could respond, her legs finally gave out and she collapsed onto the floor, and fell unconscious just a few moments after.

* * *

When Alice finally came to she found herself lying on Frederick's couch, in his apartment. But the first thing she saw wasn't Frederick, like she expected. It was Niles standing there, staring at her with a confused look on his face. 

"She's awake," he said, and he looked over to his left. Alice turned to see who he was looking at. It was Frederick.

"Alice, are you okay?" he asked, and he sat down on the couch next to her.

Slowly, she sat up, and turned to face Frederick. "I had to come see you, I couldn't stay at home, it was just all too much to handle," she told him. Frederick and Niles exchanged glances, then Niles sat down on the other side of the couch, next to Alice.

"What do you mean? What's happened at home?" Niles asked curiously.

Alice shook her head slowly, looking down at the floor now. "Uncle Niles, if I told you, you'd go bananas," she replied.

"Well, we certainly can't have that," Niles said, "I'm not a fan of bananas." He laughed, and then put an arm around Alice. She laughed quietly along with him, and then looked up. "Seriously though. It's..." Her voice trailed off for a moment, "I can't, cos you'll probably go blabbing to everyone."

Niles looked at her, shocked. "I most certainly wouldn't," he said, sounding insulted. Then he sighed, and Alice felt slightly guilty. After all, she'd never had a reason to believe that she couldn't trust him. After all, she had known him her entire life. He was like an uncle to her; and at times, a second father. Why shouldn't she tell him about the situation?

"Well, see, last night I..." Suddenly Alice realised what a mistake she was making. Maybe Roz would wake up in the morning and tell Frasier to leave, and say she didn't really want him? Or maybe Frasier would dump her and rush off back to Charlotte? A million things began whizzing through her mind, and for some reason all these things were making her see sense.

"You know what, Uncle Niles? It's nothing really. Just something at school. I'm fine, really." she finally managed to say, hoping Niles would believe her.

But the look on Niles' face said otherwise.

"Alice, come on, please tell me what's happened," he told her, "I want to be able to help you. Freddie told me when you arrived here you were in a terrible state. You can't have been like that simply because of something that happened at school."

Alice suddenly felt like kicking herself for acting like such a fool. "It's okay, REALLY," she said again, "Why don't you go home, Uncle Niles? I'll be okay here, don't worry."

Niles still wasn't convinced, but he decided to give up this time. "Well, if you're sure..." he said slowly, getting up from the couch, "I'll make my way home then. Remember Alice, if you need somebody to talk to, you know where to find me." He glanced back, yelled "Goodnight Freddie", and then made his way out of the apartment.

Alice was sat there alone, until Frederick made his way back into the living room a few minutes later, clutching a tray with two cups of coffee on it. He sat down next to Alice, and placed the tray down on the coffee table in front of them.

"So, tell me what's going on," asked Frederick, "Because it's obvious you were lying to Uncle Niles just now."

Alice gave Frederick an angry glance. "I was not lying."

"You collapsed outside my front door. So, let me guess... wild party?" Frederick joked, handing one of the cups of coffee to Alice, and then picking the other one up for himself.

"It wasn't a wild party." Alice rolled her eyes. "Certainly not for me anyway."

"Don't talk in riddles. Now, seriously - what happened."

"Okay, here's the thing. My mom is a whore."

"Well, duh, of course she is." Frederick smirked.

Alice gasped, then hit Frederick on the arm; but then the two looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"I didn't mean it," he told her, "Your mom is happily married. She loves Matthew, and would never cheat on him. So why do you think she's a...a whore?"

"Dunno... she just is," Alice said, secretly feeling bad that she was lying to Frederick, "Look, it's late, so maybe I should go home." She put the coffee cup back down on the tray and then stood up, and started to make her way towards the front door.

"It's Dad, isn't it."

Alice stopped in her tracks, and spun around quickly. "W-What do you mean?"

"I'm not an idiot." Frederick got up from the couch, and walked over to Alice. "It's Dad and Roz, isn't it. They've done something."

She was shaking, there were tears in her eyes. She knew she was about to crack, but still she couldn't bring herself to tell Frederick the truth. "No, you're wrong, nothing happened, okay?" She turned away from him and made a grab for the handle on the front door - but Frederick pulled her back.

"No. Now you tell me what's going on, Alice," he said angrily, "If this is about my Dad, then you've gotta tell me. What's he done?"

And this was the last straw for Alice. She burst into tears, then turned around and stretched her arms out to Frederick - he pulled her into a hug, and she cried harder. He led her back to the couch, and they both sat down again.

"So, it IS about my Dad," Frederick said, as if it was completely obvious, "So, what, did you walk in on them kissing or something?"

Alice cried even harder, which made Frederick realise he was wrong. "Come on, Alice, tell me," he said softly, putting an arm around her.

"They were in Mom and Matt's room... and she... she said she loved him... that she'd always loved him," she sobbed, "And then they..."

"Then they what?" Frederick suddenly didn't like where their conversation seemed to be going.

"Oh, for god's sake! What do you THINK they did?!" Suddenly Alice had stopped crying - her sadness had turned to rage, she was no longer upset but instead angry. "AND YOU KNOW WHERE I WAS WHILE THEY DID THIS? I WAS UNDER THE BED! NOW DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHY THIS IS KILLING ME SO MUCH?" And then, suddenly, more tears and sobbing again. "You don't understand, you never will. You don't know what it's like to go through what I've been through. My dad's never here, and I had to put up with my mom's new guy. And just when I think things are gonna be alright again, something fucked up ends up happening. You've never had to go through that, Frederick, so don't act like you understand."

Alice stared down at the floor for a few moments, waiting for Frederick to respond. But he didn't.

She finally decided to look up. There was a look of sadness on Frederick's face.

"I do understand, Alice," he said, "I understand more than you think I do."

Alice was angry once again. She pushed Frederick away and stood up. "Oh, yeah, RIGHT, like your parents ever had problems! You had a perfect life, you..." Her voice trailed off, and she almost gasped at what she saw. "Freddie... are you... crying?"

Frederick was sat there silently, his face buried in his hands. He wasn't crying - at least, Alice didn't think he was. She couldn't quite tell. Suddenly she felt guilty, and nervous. What had she said to make him so upset?

"You're so wrong," Frederick said quietly, finally looking up. "I never had a perfect life. My parents split up, remember? My mom cheated on my dad... god, wipe that stupid look off your face, Alice, it's the TRUTH. What I'm trying to say Alice is... well, let me cut to the chase. I DID have a hard life, so don't EVER try to accuse me of not understanding you or how you feel. I've been there, and I understand perfectly."

Alice stood there, almost frozen, mouth wide open in shock. She knew that Frasier and Lilith had had problems - of course she did, her mom only brought it up _every_ time she had a fight with Matt - "IT'S LIKE WE'RE BECOMING FRASIER AND LILITH! I may as well paint myself white and start talking in a robotic tone!" - but she never knew how much it had hurt Frederick.

She had never seen this side to Frederick before - this sensitive, vulnerable side - and now she'd seen it, it only made her love him even more. There was that word again, she thought, Love. Did she really love him? Maybe she did. Maybe it was genuine, and maybe Roz was wrong.

"I guess I should...go home now," she said, almost in a whisper, "I can see I've outstayed my welcome." But as she turned around and reached for the door handle, Frederick spoke again. "No, you don't need to go."

Alice turned around again to face Frederick, and finally he decided to look up at her.

"It's late, I don't want you going out by yourself. You can stay here tonight."

"I don't think I should - "

"No. I insist." There was no love in either of their words. They were both giving each other cold, icy stares. For a moment, it was as if they both hated each other.

"Look, I'll make up the couch for you," Frederick told her, "Is that alright? I'll go get you a duvet and some pillows." and he got up from the couch, turned around and began making his way down the hallway toward his bedroom.

"Okay...thanks," said Alice softly, although she knew that Frederick probably couldn't hear her now.

"Right, here we are!" Frederick came rushing back into the living room a few moments later, clutching two pillows and a small folded white sheet. "I couldn't find anything else, and I don't have a spare duvet, sorry."

Alice laughed, and nodded, walking over to take one of the pillows from Frederick. She sat down, wrapped her arms around the pillow and then laid her head down on it. "My Mom will kill me for staying here, but thanks anyway." She sighed. "I can't face going back home, not yet."

"No problem." Frederick placed the other pillow down on the couch, and then handed the sheet to Alice.

"Out of curiousity, why would your Mom kill you? It's not like I'm gonna jump your bones the minute I get you alone." He laughed.

"No, I know you wouldn't..." Alice closed her eyes, smirked, and then spoke again in a whisper: "...Unfortunately."


End file.
